Forbidden Love
I look into your face
and quickly turn away
lest adoration
tempt the fates
and draw the furies
down to tear you
from me now, my son.
It wasn’t always so.
There was a time
I dared to hold you
close and draw in deep
your baby scent to fill
the void left in me
by your birth.
And with my eyes
I’d trace your face
and memorize each curve.
I’d marvel at the upturned
mouth and slant of eye
that marked you, son,
as mine.
And still unsated, I’d caress
your rounded cheek
and let my fingers
brush with feather stroke
the newness of your downy
head to feel the gentle pulse
of life and let its rhythm
synchronize with mine.
The rapture of those moments
is long gone. Replaced in
equal measure by the fear
that sacrifice is still the price
this land demands of youth
and knowledge that the cries
of mothers will not stay
our bloody destiny.
(Published in Poetica, July 2007 and Voices Anthology 2007)
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